My Heart's One Desire

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel

    and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

‘I am the first and I am the last;

    besides me there is no god.

Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.

    Let him declare and set it before me,

since I appointed an ancient people.

    Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.

Fear not, nor be afraid;

    have I not told you from of old and declared it?

    And you are my witnesses!

Is there a God besides me?

    There is no Rock; I know not any.’” (Isaiah 44:6-8 ESV)

We who live on the planet earth live in flesh bodies, and the flesh has a tendency to desire all sorts of things which may not be good for us. And then we are bombarded with all sorts of messages coming from TV and movies and videos and music lyrics and social media and advertising, et al, which are constantly pulling us this direction or another trying to convince us that we need this or that in order to be happy and to be fulfilled.

And then, like me, some of us as children through adulthood were raised to put hand over heart and to pledge (vow) our allegiance (loyalty, devotion, passion, and worship) to the government of the USA. And we were raised to sing patriotic songs of worship to our government and to honor our military as our heroes who they claim keep us safe and who they say protect us from evil. But God alone is to be all that to us, not the government.

And now so much of these modern-day “churches” which are being market-driven are trying to get us to give our undying loyalty and devotion to the preacher and to the marketing schemes for growing “the churches” into businesses of human origin which are being marketed to the world. And many of these preachers are like cult leaders who want us to worship them over and above our true worship of God.

And then there are all sorts of other things and people out there vying for our attention and affections and worship and praise and honor and passion. And so we are being pulled in all these different directions by people and by advertising and by social media memes, trying to convince us that if we just go this way or that way, or if we get in this relationship and out of that one, that we will be happier, and that we will be fulfilled and have joy everlasting.

But this world is still the world. And flesh is still flesh. And people will fail us and disappoint us. And the grass is not always greener on the other side. Sometimes you just trade one bad situation for another if you look to another human being to be your “knight in shining armor.” And things don’t last. And all this is temporal and could be all gone in an instant, and then what do you have left? Yourself. And? Who gets your heart then?

Bottom line here is that our God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit – is to be our only God. And a “god” can be a preacher, a teacher, a politician, a government head, a musician, an actor, somebody famous, or entertainment, sports, games, movies, videos, possessions, husbands, wives, and children, etc. For a god is anything and anyone who gets our hearts, time, passion, desires, loyalty and devotion above God.

And the way that we know if we have any other gods above God is when we look at how much time and passion and worship and service we give to our Lord compared with how much of our hearts, passion, time, and desire goes to other people or the things of this world. Who or what are we looking to in order to meet our needs and our desires? God? Or the flesh? Or other people? Or entertainment? Or fantasy world? Or the government, etc.?

So, make sure that God is your only God to whom you give your worship and undying loyalty and devotion. Yes, love other people. Care about them. Minister to them. Meet their needs. Desire Christian fellowship. Have friends. But don’t make other humans your gods. Don’t depend on them to make you happy and to meet your needs and to fulfill all your desires. And don’t desire them above God or you are not worthy of the Lord, he said.

Video Talk

https://youtu.be/SL_kUzXBEgM

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As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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